RMAF 2016................Boenicke W5

Gawbless,
The wisdom of the reviewer is evident given some of the responses here and is why I found his assessment so on the mark. Such strong opinion stated without any listening whatsoever. To look at a speaker's size and then assume so much isn't a demonstration of substance or much thought. Two speakers could have identical dimensions and yet be worlds apart in sound quality. Raidho and Magico have mini monitors that are in the 25K USD range. They may or may not be superior to the 3.6 K USD Boenicke W5.  Who knows? only by "listening" can these issues be settled. Looking at pictures doesn't cut it. Mini monitors can range from true state of the art level to subpar. You have to hear an audio product. No one claims any mini monitor is a full range speaker, yet they can be superb in their own realm.
Charles,

The size of some of the models mentioned may be paltry but the cost is not. That’s the point. Has nothing to do if they are judged to sound good or not. What is so hard to understand?

I’ve heard the Magico Monitors and yes the sound was superb. If I had a smaller room and a considerable budget I might consider owning them. But I would not call the cost paltry. They are in fact quite expensive and frankly the sound can be matched for much less. Especially if same 6 digit set of electronics used to drive the competition.

Charles, I heard the Raidho 2's at the show? they were big speakers anyway at the show, whilst I liked their sound and stayed for a whole song, the ahem W5's were musically better, in that the Instruments and vocals sounded more real with an uncanny timbre (as I mentioned before). Did they have more bass? Course not, but its not all about the bass, statistics and meaningless graphs or cups with water in, its all about the ears and musical emotion. After all one could buy a sub or two, or move up the Boenicke range to their floor standers. Jeez, anyone would think I am a salesperson for them. I don't know why the *p* word is so upsetting to some. How else could one describe the difference between $3600 and $348,000? close?

Some people want real sounding bass along with the rest.   These things will matter most to them.

Gawd you just demonstrated my point again.   $3600 would be a paltry sum to get the sound and performance possible for $348,000.     You also likely need a very large room, maybe an auditorium or sports stadium  to be able to say $348000 is a paltry amount to spend for speakers.

Anyone can look up the average cost of speakers of various sizes and level of performance.   $3600 for perhaps one of the smallest speakers out there might well be justifiable for some, but its not paltry.

Its all a metter of expectations I suppose.   People in these parts expect to pay more for top performance.   Paltry to those perhaps but get real not to 99.9% of the real world.   Just like $100 freakin fuses.

Rant over.